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2013 Spring

This introductory course considers what is distinctively religious about
religions. Using a combination of in depth case study and cross-cultural
comparison, it introduces the student to recurrent themes, forms and structures
of religion, considering such topics as: the nature of myth and ritual; sacred
time and sacred space; gods, spirits and ancestors; as well as the roles of
shaman, prophet, and priest.

01 M, Th 13:10-14:25 Adluri (Room 205W)

051 M, W 20:25-21:40 Raver (Room 205W)

052 Tu, Th 19:00-20:15 O'Neil

REL 111 Approaches to Religion

A modern critical study of religion using a variety of methods to
further understanding of the role of religion in personal and social
life. Approaches include those of philosophy, psychology, the arts,
history, sociology, and anthropology. Readings are from a variety of
differing religious traditions.

01 Tu, F 12:45-14:00 Huffman (Room 205W)

051 Tu, Th 19:00-20:15 Cerequas (Room 205W)

REL 204 Religious Experience

Here the emphasis is not on doctrines of religion, but on central
experiences that underlie the institutions of religion. Readings are
drawn from a variety of cultures: from ancient writings to contemporary
ones; from religious traditions and from outside religious systems as
such. Most of the readings concern the experiences themselves, in
material such as the Australian initiation rites, Islamic and Native
American rituals, The Epic of Gilgamesh, biblical narratives, the
enlightenment of the Buddha, mystical experiences, the journals of Etty
Hillesum. Work by several theorists will also be read. Questions will
include: What is the experience like? What is "religious" experience?
How does the experience affect people and their lives?

01 Tu, F 9:45-11:00 Tirana (Room 205W)

051 M, W 17:35-18:50 Haltenberger

REL 205 Faith and Disbelief

An examination of questions raised in religious faith and in disbelief,
concentrating particularly on the challenge to religion made by
existentialism. Among the authors to be read are both critics and
defenders of religion: Camus, Buber, Kierkegaard, Teilhard de Chardin,
Sartre, Nietzsche, Tillich, and Bonhoffer.

01 Tu, F 11:10-12:25 Sproul

REL 206 Ideas of God

How does contemporary Western theology understand faith in God? What is
meant--or ought to be meant--by the word "God"? How does the reality of
evil figure into faith? Answers to these questions will be our primary
focus as we read works by representative Jewish, Christian, and heterodox
religious thinkers since World War II. Examples will be drawn from
liberal, process, feminist, and radical perspectives, among others.

051 Tu, Th 17:35-18:50 Cerequas (Room 205W)

REL 208 Religion and Social Justice

While all religions agree that securing a socially just world is a
'constant occupation,' they disagree as to the concrete nature of that
vocation. This course is designed to examine contemporary religious
reflection on four social issues: war, race, the economy, and gender
relations. The issues will be approached from as many sides as possible,
examining them in light of the attitudes they reveal about God, society,
and justice. The course will focus primarily on readings from a range of
different traditions, in large part to illustrate the plurality of
perspectives that exist.

01 Tu, F 14:10-15:25 Huffman (Room 205W)

REL 251 Asian Religions

In an age of increasing encounter between very different cultures, it is
critical that we attempt to understand religious traditions that are not
historically our own. In this course we will encounter primarily the
religious traditions of India (Hinduism and Buddhism) and China
(Confucianism and Taoism). Readings are in sacred texts and secondary
sources.

01 Tu, F 12:45-14:00 Sproul

02 M, Th 8:10-9:25 Prettyman

REL 252 Ancient Near Eastern Religions

This course is a survey of the basic history and of the most significant
aspects of the religions of the major Near Eastern peoples in the Bronze
Age (8000BCE-3000 BCE), including the Egyptians, Sumerians,
Babylonians, Hittites, Canaanites, and Israelites. The magnificent
civilizations that they built had an enormous influence on subsequent
human culture. This course is based on primary
material, of both archeological and literary natures, and will discuss the
most important texts produced by religious and secular sources.

051 M, W 17:35-18:50 Raver (Room 205W)

REL 253 Abrahamic Religions

Introduction to fundamental religious ideas in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, focusing on the essential
sacred texts in the Bible and the Qur'an. Attention is given to the
influence of dualistic thought from Zoroastrianism and Gnostic systems,
and to some mystical and contemporary interpretations.

051 Tu, Th 17:35-18:50 O'Neil (Room 205W)

REL 255 Religions of Two Gods

This course explores religious traditions which conceive of the world as
constituted by mutually exclusive, and indeed antagonistic, realities.
Gnosticism and Manichaeanism were once historically potent movements, but
are no longer practiced. Others, like Zoroastrianism and Jainism, are not
only of historical importance, but still claim adherents. Dualistic
currents of thought also manifest themselves in non-dualistic contexts.
This course examines the major historical dualistic religions--and some of
theological dualism's historical and contemporary step-children--to
understand what accounts for the appeal of dualistic understanding and to
appreciate the motivations behind the lifestyles to which they have
characteristically given rise.

01 M, Th 14:45-16:00 Long

REL 257 Religions of Ancient Central & South America

This class will explore
a sample of the numerous pre-Columbian religious traditions of Mesoamerica, Central
and South America.
Using primary and secondary sources, we will examine how
the inhabitants of these regions constructed and expressed their
worldviews. One
of the main questions to consider will be whether these religious
traditions
are products of cross-cultural or particular processes. We will also
briefly address the contemporary manifestations of these traditions and
their implications for modern populations.

01 W 10:10-1:00 Herrera (Room 205W)

REL261.58 Geography of the Sacred: Religious Meanings of Land and Space

This course is an exploration of sacred space in religion. We will work with the concept of sacred
geography by reading Mircea Eliade, David Brown, Gaston Bachelard, and Michel
de Certeau (and others) and study the dynamics of sacred spaces in various
religions. The course focuses on sacred
geographies (such as the Ganges River, Mount
Meru, the Tuxtla
Mountains, Delphi, and
others), examining the texts, practices, and representations of these places,
with special focus on the idea of pilgrimage.
We also focus on the temple as sacred space, by comparing cultures such
as Hindu, ancient Egyptian and Sumerian, ancient European, and Mayan. Modern examples of geography and the sacred,
such as Ground Zero and spaces of every day life, will be considered.

01M, W 16:10-17:25 Raver (Room 205W)

REL 270 Religion and Psychology

"Every statement about God is a statement about the human person, and
every statement about the human is a statement about God." This course
will examine the complementarity between religion and psychology in many
aspects of the human person through the media of selected text, film, and
story.

051 M, W 19:00-20:15 Haltenberger

REL 308 Religion and the Arts

The arts have always been a medium for transforming spiritual beliefs,
from prehistoric figurines to William Blake’s mystical paintings. Even in
today’s society, the arts serve as a vehicle for religious expression,
reflecting not only the individual’s experience with the sacred but
society’s view of what art constitutes and how religion should be
depicted. But how did we get to this point? We shall examine the
relationship between religion and sculpture, painting, dance, theater,
decorative arts, music and, finally, photography and film from a
chronological and cross-cultural perspective.

01 M, W 19:00-20:15 Raver (Room 205W)

REL 309 Religious Meanings of Love and Sex

Sex remains one of the great powers in human life to which religion has
not been indifferent. This cross-cultural and interdisciplinary course
asks about the relation between the religious and the erotic, inquiring
into such issues as: what lies behind speaking of the gods as sexual
and/or loving; what lies behind speaking of faith as a matter of 'loving'
God; what rationales underlie the various religious codes of sexual
ethics? In short, what are the connections among the love of God, the love
for God, and sexual love between human beings--in both historical and
contemporary religion?

01 M, Th 16:10-17:25 Long

REL 311 Women and Religion: Feminist Theologies

The focus is on contemporary feminist theologies. Feminist students of
religion contend that male-defined traditions have set the patterns of
religious and societal life, without adequate attention to women's
experiences, insights or participation. The course focuses mainly on the
traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam (some other traditions are
included and welcome from the class), and explores the what and why of
patriarchy, the power of symbols, feminist sources and methods for doing
theology, as women reclaim their traditions or envision new ones,
with new models for the sacred, the self and society.

01 Tu, F 11:10-12:25 Tirana (Room 205W)

REL 314 Religion and Sports

This course on the religious dimension of sport concentrates on a
study of how world views are expressed in a culture's sports. Beginning
with a consideration of religiously contextualized sport such as the
ancient Olympic Games and the Mesoamerican ball game, the focus turns
first to American football, basketball, and baseball and then to soccer
and 19th century boxing. After an inquiry into the spiritual dynamics
of 19th century "muscular Christianity" and of the modern Olympic
movement, the course concludes with an attempt to discern an arguable
sportive spirituality.

01 M, Th 13:10-14:25 Long

REL 315 The Problem of Evil

Is it possible to say that we are living in an "age of evil," that the
events of our time reveal the presence of a "spirit of evil" in our midst?
What does religion have to say about such a phenomenon? How does religion
think about and define evil? Who or what is responsible? Can anything be
done about it? These are the questions this course will address by
way of Eastern and Western religious materials.

051 Tu, Th 16:10-17:25 Cerequas (Room 205W)

REL 320 Hinduism

A study of the nature of Hinduism and its development, literature,
philosophy, and religious practices. Readings in such traditional texts as
the Vedas, Upanishads, and Bhagavad Gita, as well as in modern texts,will
explore Hinduism's understanding of God, human beings, the feminine
principle, society and community, time and history, and we shall study how
these understandings develop from 2000 BCE to the 21st century.

01 M, Th 11:10-12:25 Adluri (Room 205W)

REL 321 Buddhism

This course is designed for students to gain a clear and substantial
knowledge of the foundations of Buddhist teachings. It begins by
examining the life of the historical Buddha, using his biography to
recognize and define the major tenets of Buddhism, which include the
Four Noble Truths, or the doctrine of Buddhist teachings and the Noble
Eightfold Path, or the discipline of practice. Building on that
foundation, the course includes several Buddhist sutras, such as The
Dhammapada and The Diamond Sutra. The application of those principles is
then explored through several biographical and autobiographical
accounts of Buddhist masters from varying traditions. This overview
includes a look at the common threads, as well as significant
distinctions of doctrine and practice that occur among the various
schools of the Buddhist religion.

01 M,Th 7:10-8:25 Finn

REL 322 Islam

An introduction to the major concepts, practices, and texts of Islam, as
well as an examination of the life and faith of the prophet Mohammed. A
study of Islam's origin in its own sociocultural framework, its
ideologies, ethos, and ethics, as well as its adaptive changes and
reinterpretations in the course of history, including its status in the
modern world as one of the most populous and wide-spread religions.

01 W 10:10-1:00 Breiner

REL 330 New Testament Religion

A scholarly consideration of the religion of the New Testament and
earliest Christianity. Examination of the theological interest of the
authors of the books of the New Testament in order to consider the major
facets of New Testament religion: the mystery of Jesus Christ, Paul's
mission and message, ethics, the relation to the Law of Judaism, salvation
theology, and apocalyptic thinking. Reading in the New Testament and
secondary sources.

01 Tu, F 14:10-15:25 Sproul

REL 333 Christian Theology

Every religious tradition pauses to reflect upon its central religious
experience; "theology" is the articulate expression of this reflection.
In this course, we will examine the Christian form of theology with
regard to key doctrines in key works: the doctrines of Trinity,
Incarnation, existence of God, and Grace – by way of a range of
Christian theologians from the 5th century Agustine to the 20th century
Barth.

01 M, Th 9:45-11:00 Adluri (Room 205W)

REL 335 Myth and Ritual

What does a ritual do for its practitioners? How does it do it? What does
the recitation of a myth do for people? Does a ritual or myth bring or
express the infinite to its participants? What is the relationship of
ritual or mythical events to people’s ordinary lives? The course, which
assumes a working knowledge of more than one religious tradition, will
look at rituals and myths from a variety of traditions including our own
“secular” life. Focusing on the motifs of “heroes” and “goddesses,” we
will identify and explore patterns of ritual/mythical life, and ask of
their philosophical, social, psychological and theological significance.

01 M, Th 9:45-11:00 Rhodes

REL 336 Zen

An inquiry into the complex nature of Zen--thought by some as the essence
of Buddhism, by others as a Buddhist-Daoist hybrid-- this course focuses on
the intellectual difficulties in understanding a teaching which represents
itself as "beyond words and phrases."

01 M,Th 11:10-12:25 Rhodes

REL 337 Sufism

Sufism, or
Islamic mysticism, has been viewed within the Muslim
community as being either
profoundly un-Islamic or as the completion of the Straight Path
which is Islam.
This course will deal with the
main aspects of Islamic mysticism, including some of the basic
teachings and
practices of the Sufis. The course will
also deal with some prominent Muslim mystics and different types
of Sufi
tradition. In particular, the course
attempts
to place Sufism in the context of Islam as a whole and to
discuss the
relationships which have and do exist between Sufis and the rest
of the Muslim
community.

01 Tu, F 9:45-11:00 Breiner

REL 361.51 Religion and Film

Film is one of the most popular forms of literature in contemporary society.
This course will explore the relationship between Religion and Film. As a class
we will examine how film makers use religion to convey their points of view, as
well as examining how western religions (Judaism/Christianity/Islam) use film
technology for propagating faith.